Tag Archives: Soul

DJ’d at this on Friday night with my pals Adam Regan and Rhys Adams. I dropped this little beauty, which always gets a good response whenever I play it. It’s funny that when I purchased this record, I was DJ’ing at the Rum Runner playing New Romantic/Electronic music, but I always picked up on certain tracks that got played at the Disco, Funk and Soul night at the club.

When the weather warms up, ya gonna hear this album a lot, blaring out of car windows. Soundtrack of the summer! Mark my words!

Production heavyweight Rhys Adams returns with his second LP under the ‘YesKing’ moniker and his debut for the BBE label. Produced entirely by Adams, ‘Re-Record Not Fade Away’, marks a coming of age for the seasoned studio head and a sonic departure from the outfit’s 2008 debut ‘Rock This World’ (co-produced by Mark Rae of Rae & Christian fame).

Borrowing it’s name from the strap line appearing in Scotch Video Tape’s 1980s TV adverts, ‘Re-Record Not Fade Away’ is both a metaphorical reference to the longevity of music produced with passion and a literal reference to Adams’ studio techniques – in particular his preference for recording live to a 1960s 1/4 inch ferrograph tape machine, a process which Adams describes as ‘integral’ to the album’s sound providing a ‘unique and authentic’ feel with a firm nod to the Dub and Reggae traditions which permeate the album.

Featured artists provide a wealth of variety to the album’s underlying themes: Guitarist for The Soothsayers and Jerry Dammers’ Spatial aka Orchestra, Patrick Hatchett plays on much of the album also co-writing several tracks becoming, in Adams’ words, ‘central to the Yesking sound’. Togo born singer Kodjovi Kush adds afrobeat flavour to ‘One More Time’ with a vocal performance which displays his musical journey to East London via Ghana, Israel and ‘90s Central London cultural hotspot, the Africa Centre. ‘Rock This World’ collaborators make a welcome return in the form of Kenny Knotts, a UK dancehall vocalist with a string of top ten hits to his name and rapper Mystro, a seasoned veteran with a list of collaborations under his belt that reads like a who’s who of the UK scene. Representing the new generation of UK dancehall artists is Toddla T and Sticky collaborator Lady Chann providing unique sound system swag on ‘Secret King’. Decca signing Annie Bea adds a sweet summer feel to ‘Just Like Me’ and new voices Mel Uye Parker, Rioghnach Connolly offer accomplished vocals to lead single ‘Hardground’, a track which Adams is happy to describe as one of his proudest productions. All in all a rich mix thrown in to the sonic melting pot via that all important tape machine mixdown!

[The very tape machine to which the album owes so much is central to the album’s cover art produced by Adams together with artist Paul Curtis.]

In the days of Different Drummer, I had a lot of fun working with Rhys. I also learnt a lot from this talented dude. Respec Rhysy Bwoy!

It was a pleasure to experience Terry Callier live. It was 20th September 2001 at the Big Chill festival, which was held at Larmer Tree Gardens (they never bettered this venue). I was captivated, and so were the crowd. More so when the sound went AWOL, but Callier just carried on a cappella style. It was beautiful!

A Terry Callier track I discovered in 2010, and absolutely love, from his debut album…

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